Court grants bail to Ritu Verma in black money case

New Delhi, March 2: A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to Ritu Verma, the wife of former bureaucrat and ex-Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's aide R.K. Verma, in a black money case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D.K. Sharma granted bail to Ritu Verma, after she appeared in court in pursuance to summons issued against her.

The court asked her to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and a surety of like amount.

It also directed her not to leave the country without prior permission of the court.

Ritu Verma was summoned as an accused in the case in January, after the court took cognisance of the prosecution initiated by the Income Tax Department against her.

Her husband R.K. Verma - said to have been a favourite of Sheila Dikshit - served as the Delhi government's power secretary in 2013.

Detailing Ritu Verma's source of allegedly unaccounted-for money stashed in banks in the British Virgin Islands, the Income Tax Department alleged that she floated a company, Windsor Incorporation Inc, of which she was the sole proprietor.

Ritu Verma had used the official residential address of her husband when Windsor was being launched. Her bank account in the British Virgin Islands carries the same address. In October 2013, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had demanded a probe into the matter.

R.K. Verma was transferred on December 20, 2013, to the Department of Higher Education after Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal became Chief Minister. Subsequently, Verma took voluntary retirement.